Forecast

FAIRFIELD -- The light bulb popped on over Shelby Iapoce's head almost as soon as she saw the T-shirt that her friend was wearing over the summer. It was a shirt with the Wounded Warrior Project logo on it, and once she did some research and found out more about the history and the importance of the organization, she knew she had to do something to help bring it more to the forefront.

"It struck a chord with me and I figured that it would be a perfect organization to help," said Iapoce, a sophomore midfielder/defender. "I've been wanting to do something for the veterans for quite some time now. I grew up with my parents always stressing how important it is that we help them out and everything.

"The (WWP) just celebrated their 10th anniversary and I think it's really important that college-age students are aware that veterans coming back now are very young, over half of them are under the age of 35, so I think that everyone can connect with this project."

Created as a result of the 9/11 attacks, the Wounded Warrior Project works with military members who have suffered either a physical or mental injury, wound or illness during their service. As of last month, the WWP has worked with more than 46,000 veterans to provide programs and services to meet the needs of injured service members, along with raising awareness and enlisting the public's aid for the needs of injured service members.

And on Saturday, both the Fairfield women's and men's lacrosse teams will do their part to raise awareness and donations for the Wounded Warrior Project with their "Faceoff for a Cause" as the women play Vermont at noon and the men take on Yale at 3 p.m. at Alumni Field.

For a $15 donation, fans will get a hat or T-shirt that was specifically designed for the game. There will also be a silent auction with all funds going directly to the Wounded Warrior Project.

"Obviously, it's a great event," said Fairfield women's lacrosse coach Mike Waldvogel. "How Shelby set it up was, she called Laura (Field), my assistant, and was wondering what to do and how to do it and she talked to some different people from the (WWP) and just took it from there. We just kind of directed her and she persisted in it. She got everyone on board. We're bringing people in to talk about what happened to them and their experiences and it's been fantastic what she's doing."

And like so many other collegiate teams across the country, Fairfield has been directly affected by the Wounded Warrior Project. Freshman midfielder Alex Fehmel has a cousin, John Fernandez, who was one of the first Wounded Warriors on Long Island and will be an honorary captain for the women's game.

A first lieutenant, Fernandez attended West Point from 1997-2001. He was injured while on duty on April 3, 2003. During his time at Army, he played lacrosse and was captain of the 2001 team.

On the men's side, senior attacker/midfielder Eric Warden's father, William, a lieutenant colonel, was a 21-year member of the Air Force who retired in 2007. He will be the honorary captain for the men's game.

"We've been fighting for so long in Afghanistan and Iraq, I mean, everyone has someone that's been affected by it, either directly or through friends that's either been wounded or killed," Waldvogel said. "As a team, we've been involved with different projects over the years. One of our players had a father who was a 9/11 firefighter and the team went down to New York and did a (charity) walk in New York. We've had somebody with MS and Parkinson's and it goes on and on. It seems like everyone joins to help. Shelby's getting support from all the teams, softball, baseball ... they're all buying stuff. Everyone realizes what kind of special event this is."

The men's lacrosse team immediately stepped up to help when they heard what Iapoce and the women's team was doing to help the WWP.

"Getting the men's support, that was special because now we've become the first lacrosse program as a whole to be partnered with the (Wounded Warrior) Project," Iapoce said. "So, they've really brought a lot of extra help to the cause."

As a lead-in to this weekend's "Faceoff for a Cause," during the preseason, the lacrosse teams brought Jason Braase, a veteran and member of the Wounded Warrior Project, to campus to speak about his experiences with the organization.

"Soldiers sacrifice their lives for us, and without them, we couldn't live the lives that we do," Iapoce said. "I think it's our duty to help them when they return."